Jesus dies. And takes our sin with him.

Mark 15.33-39, Matthew 27.45-54, Luke 23.44-48, John 19.28-37.

Around noon on 3 April 33, it got dark, and stayed that way till Jesus died. Obviously God was behind it, but we don’t know how. No solar eclipses in that part of the world, that time of year, so that’s out. Volcanoes have been known to darken the sky. So has weather. Regardless of how he pulled it off, God decided he wanted his Son’s death to happen in the dark.

As Jesus was hanging on the cross, various folks were taunting him, and Matthew describes the head priests, scribes, and elders even taunting him with a bit of Psalm 22:

Matthew 27.43 KWL

“He follows God?

God has to rescue him now, if he wants him

—for he said ‘I’m God’s son.’ ”

Psalm 22.8 LXX (KWL)

He hopes for the Lord, who has to release him,

who has to save him because he wants him.

Considering this psalm was so obviously getting fulfilled by Jesus’s death, taunting him with it just showed how far the Judean leaders’ unbelief went. They really didn’t think the psalm applied to Jesus any. It absolutely did.

This is why, round the ninth hour after sunrise (roughly 2:30 PM) Jesus shouted out the first line of that psalm: Elí Elí, lamá azavettáni?/“My God my God, for what reason do you abandon me?” Ps 22.1 I know; it sounds different after the gospels’ authors converted it to Greek characters.

Problem is, by this point the scribes seem to have left, ’cause nobody understood a word he said. Jesus was quoting the original Hebrew, but only scribes knew Hebrew; the Judeans spoke Aramaic, and the Romans spoke Greek. Since Elo’í sounds a little like Eliyáhu, “Elijah,” that’s the conclusion they leapt to: He must be calling for Elijah. So they added that to their mocking. “Wait; let’s see whether Elijah rescues him.”

In our day many Christians have leapt to a different conclusion—a heretic one. They might know Jesus was quoting scripture, but think he quoted it ’cause the Father literally, just then, did abandon him. Seriously.

Here’s the theory. When the lights went out, this was the point when Jesus became the world’s scapegoat: The sins of the entire world were placed upon his head, Lv 16.20-22 so that when he died, our sin died with him. Which is totally possible, ’cause that’s how the scapegoat ritual was meant to work in Leviticus. Thing is, the scriptures never spell out just how Jesus substitutionarily atoned for our sins, nor when the transfer was made. The world going dark just feels like a good, dramatic time for such an event to happen.

Here’s where the theory goes wonky: After this sin-transfer was made to a scapegoat, someone was supposed to turn this goat loose in the wilderness to die. In Jesus’s case, he could hardly wander off; his wrists and ankles were nailed to a cross. He could hardly wander off… so these Christians figure the Father must’ve removed himself. Others insist the Father removed himself because he finds sin so very offensive. He couldn’t bear to watch, so he dimmed the lights (as if God can’t see in the dark) and turned his face away from his beloved, but defiled, Son.

Here’s why it’s all heresy: God is One, and the trinity is indivisible. You can’t separate the Son from the Father. They’re not two seperate beings; they’re One. The rest of us humans are separate beings from the Father, yet Paul stated nothing can separate us from his love. Ro 8.38-39 So if that’s the case, how in creation could anything, even sin, separate God the Son from God the Father? Nope; not gonna work.

The idea of the Father turning his face away is popular—especially since it’s wormed its way into Christian worship music—but there’s no biblical basis for it. Just a lot of Christians who hate sin, who kinda like the idea God hating it so much he’d leave… so don’t you sin, or God’ll quit on you. It’s a great way to scare the dickens out of sinners. But if it were that easy to drive God away, you’d think the devil’s work would’ve driven God entirely off the planet. Ironically I find a lot of Calvinists, folks fond of insisting nothing’s mightier than God, likewise teaching the idea that the Father turned his face away from his innocent Son—instead of meeting the defeated enemy of sin head-on.

I could rant on, but let’s step away from the really bad theology, and quote what the gospels did say happened when the lights went out.

The gospels’ description.

Mark 15.33-39 KWL

33When the sixth hour since sunrise [noon]comes,

darkness comes over all the land till the ninth hour [3PM].

34At the ninth hour Jesus cries out with a loud voice,

“Elahí Elahí, lamaná šavaqtaní?”

which is translated from Aramaic,

“My God my God, why have you left me behind?” Ps 22.1

35Some of the bystanders who hear it

say, “Look: He calls Elijah.”

36 One of the runners, filling a sponge of vinegar,

putting it on a reed, gives Jesus a drink,

saying, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him.”

37Jesus, giving out a loud cry, expires.

38The temple veil splits in two, from top down.

39The centurion standing across from Jesus,

seeing how he expires, says, “Truly this person is God’s son.”

Matthew 27.45-54 KWL

45From the sixth hour since sunrise [noon]

darkness comes over all the land until the ninth hour [3PM].

46Around the ninth hour Jesus cries out with a loud voice,

saying, “Elí Elí, lamá azavettáni?”

That is, “My God my God, why did you leave me behind?” Ps 22.1

47Some of the bystanders who hear it

say this: “This man calls Elijah.”

48One runner quickly leaves them.

Taking a sponge full of vinegar,

putting it on a reed, he gives Jesus a drink.

49The others say, “Let’s see if Elijah comes,

and will save him.”

50Jesus, again calling out in a loud cry,

gives his last breath.

51Look, the temple veil splits from top down in two.

The earth shakes. The rocks split.

52Tombs open, and many bodies of “sleeping” saints are raised.

53Coming out of the tombs after Jesus’s rising,

they go into the holy city and are seen by many.

54The centurion and those guarding Jesus with him,

seeing the earthquake and what’s happening,

fear greatly, saying, “Truly this person is God’s son.”

Luke 23.44-48 KWL

44Now it’s about the sixth hour after sunrise [noon],

and it becomes dark over the whole land till the ninth hour [3PM].

45The sun fails to appear.

The temple veil splits in the middle.

46Jesus, calling in a loud voice,

says, “Father, I set my spirit into your hands.”

Saying this, he expires.

47The centurion seeing what happens, glorifies God,

saying, “This person is indeed righteous.”

48All the assembled crowd seeing what happens,

at this sight, went back to beating their chests.

John 19.28-37 KWL

28After this Jesus, knowing everything is now finished,

says to fulfill the scripture, “I thirst.”

29A full jar of vinegar is sitting there.

So a sponge full of vinegar, with hyssop put on it,

is brought to Jesus’s mouth.

30When he tastes the vinegar, Jesus says, “It’s finished.”

He bends his head and hands over his spirit.

31So the Judeans, since it’s Preparation Friday,

lest bodies stay on the cross on Sabbath

(for this Sabbath was a great feast day),

ask Pilate so their legs might be broken,

and their bodies be taken away.

32So the soldiers come and break the legs of the first man,

and the other crucified with him.

33Coming over to Jesus, they see he’s died already.

They don’t break his legs.

34Instead one soldier stabs Jesus’s side with his spear.

Blood and water quickly come out.

35The one who witnessed it testifies:

It’s a true testimony.

This man knows he tells the truth,

so you also can believe.

36For this happened so the scripture might be fulfilled:

“They won’t break his bones.”

37Again, another scripture says,

“They’ll see to whom they stabbed.”

I dealt with the vinegar elsewhere.

Aftershocks from Jesus’s death.

Depending on the gospel, various things happen as a product of Jesus’s death.

	MARK	MATTHEW	LUKE	JOHN
Temple veil bisected.	Mk 15.38	Mt 27.51	Lk 23.45
Earthquake, rocks split.		Mt 27.51
Dead come out of their graves.		Mt 27.52-53
Centurion impressed.	Mk 15.39	Mt 27.54	Lk 23.47
Soldiers don’t break his legs, but spear him.				Jn 19.31-37

The temple veil separated the Holy Place from the Holiest Place, the back room of the temple where the Ark of the Covenant would be kept if it were still around. Christians like to point out it was a mighty thick curtain, and therefore impossible for some random person to rip. True. But it was centuries old, and a strong earthquake might snap its curtain-rod and tear it top-to-bottom, just as the gospels describe. Regardless of how God did it, its point—all barriers between God and us have been removed through Jesus’s death—is entirely valid.

There are a few apocryphal New Testament gospels which claim after Jesus died, a few of the zombies revived saints testified to the Judean senate that they’d seen Jesus break into hell, step on the devil’s neck, and release a bunch of Old Testament saints. Entertaining stories, but way too many historical and scriptural inaccuracies for them to be anything but Christian fanfiction.

Apparently a centurion (if not his entire century, his unit of 100 soldiers) was supervising the crosses, and his response to how Jesus died was either “He sure seemed a good guy,” or “Holy crap, it’s the son of God!” We have no idea what this centurion’s religion was. If he was your typical Greco-Roman pagan, he believed the gods had lots of sons. (The Roman senate had even declared Cæsar Augustus one of them.) So his “son of God” comment might’ve meant the very same thing Luke describes him saying: Jesus seemed a good guy. Then again, who knows?—all sorts of unexpected people turn out to be listening to the Holy Spirit.

In John the aftermath is a lot less miraculous. The Pharisees couldn’t abide crucifixion victims striving to breathe on Sabbath; it counts as work. So they petitioned the Romans to “humanely” dispatch them, with enough time so they could stick ’em in a tomb, then go get baptized, before Sabbath began at nightfall. (On 3 April, that’d be 6PM.) Hence the Romans “humanely” broke their shins, making it impossible for them to hoist themselves up to breathe. Suffocation happened in minutes.

Since Jesus was already dead, a soldier poked him with a spear, and out came blood and water. I’ve heard Christians claim this proves Jesus died, not of suffocation, but a ruptured—make that “broken”—heart. It comes from Dr. William Stroud’s 1847 book, A Treatise on the Physical Cause of the Death of Christ. The idea of a broken heart sure sounds impressive, but more recent physicians prefer the idea of cardiovascular collapse: That’d most likely produce the clear pericardial fluid (“water”) the spear brought forth.

Though not as miraculous, it did fulfill two verses. One about not breaking the bones of a Passover lamb Ex 12.46, Nu 9.12 —that, or about the LORD protecting the bones of the righteous. Ps 34.20 That, and something the LORD said through Zechariah where they’ll “look at me”—speaking of himself—“whom they pierced; and mourn for him like one mourns for an only son.” Zc 12.10 Odd phrasing, but sure fits Jesus’s circumstances.

And, in the next station, Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus off his cross and put him in Joseph’s sepulcher—expecting, a year later, to go back in, gather his bones, and stick ’em in a casket. Not expecting, two days later, for Jesus to come out on his own. But to be fair, nobody else expected that either.